Samsung Galaxy Tab A7

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 brings with it a good display, great sound output and a premium build. It is ideal for those looking for a content consumption device from streaming services, some gaming and light productivity work. It has good battery life too. The camera is good enough for video calls but won't replace your smartphone for photography needs. The processor can play all the games you want and run apps from the Play Store, but high-end productivity apps can cause the device to stutter. 

Unlike smartphones, tablets don't launch every year. And even when they do launch, they are far and few out there. The reason for this is that one does not purchase a new tablet as often as one does a smartphone. Unlike smartphones, which are more active devices, tablets can be considered passive devices. And by passive, I mean they are a better fit for content consumption rather than content creation. High-end tablets like the iPad Pro and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 aim to blur the lines between a tablet and a laptop, offering high-end specs and functionality when compared to their budget counterparts. 

With more and more people working from home and especially students attending online lectures, does a budget tablet with long battery life, a decent display and access to a host of apps fill a void that smartphones are too small for and laptops too big for? Let's find out. 

In the Box

In the box, you get the tablet along with a USB-C cable and a power adaptor. That's it. There is no protective cover or a stylus in the box. You will have to purchase a cover separately as an accessory.  

Samsung Galaxy Tab A7: Key specifications at a glance

Display: 10.4-inch TFT 2000 x 1200 pixels (WUXGA+) Platform: Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 RAM: 3GB Built-in storage: 32GB Expandable storage: up to 1TB SIM Card slot: No (there is a 4G model, this one is Wi-Fi only) USB-C: Yes 3.5mm jack: Yes Thickness: 7mm Battery: 7040mAh  OS: Samsung One UI 2.5 over Android 10 Rear Camera: 8MP Front Camera: 5MP Speakers: 4 Bluetooth: 5

It’s a little surprising to see the tablet running on the Snapdragon 662 when we have seen the more capable Exynos 9611 on Samsung’s smartphones. But more on that in the performance section. 

Display and Audio performance

While Samsung’s Flagship tablets like the S6 (review) and the S5e (review) sport an AMOLED display, the Tab A7 has a TFT display. It has a 2000 x 1200-pixel resolution, giving it a 224 PPI pixel density. While it isn’t the crispest display out there when it comes to resolution, it isn’t bad either. Colours don't look as vibrant as we've seen them on Samsung’s AMOLED display on other tablets, but it isn't as washed out and lackluster on as we’ve seen on other budget tablets. To put things into perspective, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 is priced at Rs 17,999 for the 32GB Wi-Fi only variant. To get the entry-level 32GB Wi-Fi only iPad 8th gen you’ll have to shell out Rs 29,900. So, while Samsung is targeting a relatively vacant price point with the A7, going for a cheaper tablet will mean a bigger compromise on the display and one step above the A7 means spending a little over 10K.

To judge the performance of the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7’s display, we played a lot of content from popular streaming services like Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar and YouTube and it all looked quite crisp and surprisingly colourful.   

From the Cyberpunk 2077 trailer showing off the neon coloured Night City to the cars in the Grand Tour and even the vivid colour palette of Young Sheldon, it was a treat to watch. The display on auto-brightness got slightly dim for my taste, but you can always bump it up manually. The tablet doesn't support HDR and for the price, it is ok, especially when you consider the display can produce rich colours. 

The display can also get really bright. Just like other Samsung devices we’ve seen in the past, you can push the brightness just that bit above the maximum setting and this helps with daytime viewing of content. 

Safe to say that if consuming content is something you are getting this device for, or even attending online classes, then you should do fine with the display. The touch response is good as well and the tablet responded to the slightest of touches. 

Coming to the audio performance, it has 4 speakers (2 on each side when held in landscape mode) and they can get pretty loud. Loud enough that you can place them on a table and a bunch of you can enjoy a movie without needing to attach a Bluetooth speaker. Needless to say, that if you want to watch online classes on this tablet, you won't need to resort to headphones. 

Performance

As we said above, what's baffling is that despite Samsung having its own Exynos 9611 chip we see the tablet running on a Snapdragon 662. While the chipset isn’t the weakest out there, we have seen offerings from MediaTek trump it in raw performance on smartphones. While it isn't fair to compare smartphone benchmark scores against a tablet, below are some of the benchmark scores of the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7. 

Moving to gaming, by default, the Graphical Quality and Frame Rate was set to high in COD Mobile, while other settings like Depth of Field and Ragdoll Effects were off. This is, of course, the auto-selection of the game based on the hardware and we did find this to be the ideal way to play the game. While this isn't the prettiest, we’ve seen that COD Mobile it is definitely playable, smooth and enjoyable. Maxing out the settings did hamper the performance, though. 

Moving over to everyday performance, like checking mail, browsing the Internet, watching videos, etc. the tablet performed impressively without any stutters. The only underwhelming experience is typing. I wish each letter had a tad more real estate in landscape mode to give users a comfortable typing experience. If you are someone who will type a lot, then investing in the keyboard accessory will be a wise decision. If you need to type a mail or a short document or some notes, you should do ok. But if you are looking to type for long periods of time, then this keyboard feels cramped. 

Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 UI

The tablet runs on Android 10 with Samsung’s One UI 2.5 overlaying it. While Samsung’s One UI has evolved a lot to make one-handed operations and the general flow of the UI on a Samsung smartphone a lot smoother, on a tablet it is still a two-handed task. Since there is no fingerprint sensor, you will have to resort to a pin or pattern unlock. There is also the face unlock using the front camera which worked 9 out of 10 times. From aspects like multitasking to populating the home screen with your favourite apps and even navigating the settings, it is a lot like you’d find on a Samsung smartphone, making Samsung users feel right at home on this device.  

Camera

The performance of the camera is lacklustre, if you are thinking of using this as your primary shooter. It works well for video calls but for photos, your smartphone will still be a better choice. It can click relatively decent photos in well-lit conditions, preserving details and making photos look good. In the night, however, the shutter speed feels slow, the tablet takes its own sweet time to focus and images are very noisy. Below are some camera samples resized for web. 

Above: Well-lit image sample from the rear camera (resized for web)

Above: Low light image sample from the rear camera (resized for web)

Above: Well-lit image sample from the rear camera (resized for web)

Above: Low light image sample from the rear camera (resized for web)

Above: Low light image sample from the rear camera (resized for web)

Build and Design

Slim, elegant and well-built are the first things that will come to mind when you see the Galaxy Tab A7. The one we have here is the grey variant but it is available in Silver and Gold as well. Starting with the back of the tablet, it has a smooth metal finish which feels premium but may not be the most ergonomic. I found the tablet slipping a bit from my hands on multiple occasions and the lack of a cover to prop it on a table was felt dearly. The back of the device is as premium as the iPad. 

The 10.4-inch form factor is a tried-and-tested one so as far as ergonomics are concerned, you will feel right at home. When playing games or watching videos, the device is comfortable to use. 

Moving to port placement, (holding the tablet in portrait mode) you have the power button and the volume rocker on the right. The tray for the microSD card slot is on the left. At the top and the bottom, you have the quad-speaker setup. At the bottom, you also have the USB-C port and the endangered headphones jack. The back of the tablet also houses the camera. On the front, the camera isn't in the traditional position. Rather it's on the side bezel in the centre when held in portrait mode. This makes it the ideal position for the front camera when held in landscape mode to make video calls.

Overall, the build of the tablet is good and premium. The tablet is slim and without investing in a case to prop it up at an angle, typing in landscape mode is a tad annoying. The size is good enough for playing games and watching videos. 

Battery

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 has a 7040mAh battery - in line with what we saw on the Galaxy Tab S5e. In our battery benchmark with the display on full brightness, the tablet died in a little less than 8 hours, which is actually pretty good. Especially when you compare it to its predecessors. In real-world usage, it can last much longer. Playback from streaming services saw a drop of about 14 percent in one hour, based on the streaming service. Local playback saw about 16 percent drop per hour using VLC. Keeping the brightness higher than auto, and you have a device that can last about 10 hours of content consumption with ease. The battery life will vary based on usage and some productivity scenarios may see it drain faster.

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7?

The cheapest iPad will cost you a whopping Rs 10,000 more than the Tab A7 and while there are cheaper options as well that one can consider, at about Rs 18,000 for the Tab A7, we have a device that's targeted at those that want a device for content consumption. Sure, you can add a Bluetooth keyboard and type school and college assignments on this one, if you like. However, if Netflixing late into the night, attending online classes and playing some games is what you are looking for, then you can absolutely consider it. It brings with it a bright display, good battery life and great audio output. If you are a productivity user, then this tablet is not for you as heavy editing apps and multitasking can cause the device to stutter. The performance of the camera is good for video calls, but lacklustre when clicking photos. Needless to say, you will resort to your phone instead of this to click family photos.

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Realme Buds Air Pro

The Realme Buds Air Pro are enticing, no doubt. Equipped with features such as ANC, Transparency Mode, gaming mode, customisable controls, Google Fast Pair, and others, all packaged neatly at a competitive price of Rs 4,999, it’s easy to recommend these earphones to most users that are looking for a value for money true wireless purchase under 5K.

True wireless earphones took the world by storm in 2016 when Apple released its very first AirPods that cut all cords, allowing for a more liberating music listening experience. Since then, the category has only grown manifold with manufacturers now offering plenty of options in the budget and mid-range price points as well. Realme, with the launch of the Realme Buds Air Pro, has taken it a notch higher with this product by including ANC on these earphones, that makes it an extremely enticing purchase at this price point. Users no longer have to shell out tens of thousands of their hard-earned rupees to get an ANC-enabled pair of earphones, and the company has, in a way, democratised the technology in India. In addition to ANC, the Realme Buds Air Pro also comes packing an array of other features such as Transparency Mode, Gaming mode, custom controls, and others. The Realme Buds Air Pro will be available to purchase at Rs 4,999, alongside Realme’s new ANC neckband-style earphones, the Realme Buds Wireless Pro, from October 16 onwards. Let’s see how these feature-laden earphones fared in our tests.

Build and comfort

Inspired by the shape of a cobble (a small round stone), the Realme Buds Air Pro’s charging case inspires awe due to how flat and pocketable it is. The smooth glossy texture feels good to the touch and the case barely bulges out of even tight-fitted jeans pockets. The design is quite reminiscent of the OnePlus Buds’ case, down to the position of the LED light, the charging port and the overall structure. However, the Buds Air Pro’s case is considerably flatter, making it more pocketable. The Realme Buds Air Pro is available in two colour options - Rock Black and Soul White.

The front of the case houses an LED light which indicates the battery status of the case and the Realme logo, which is pretty subtle. On the bottom, there’s the USB Type-C charging port, and the right side has the pairing button. The lid is extremely easy to open one-handed and it also shuts with an audible and satisfying snap. The earbuds, however, are hard to remove from the case, especially if you have bigger or sweaty digits. Due to the flat design, there’s not enough room for fingers to easily wiggle between the lid and the case and remove the earpieces seamlessly. Although, if you have thinner fingers, you possibly won’t face this issue.

Moving on to the earbuds, they’re pretty lightweight, each bud weighing merely 5g and carry over the same glossy texture as on the charging case. They have considerably long stems protruding out and have an oval shape with angled nozzles. The top part of the stem that connects to the buds also doubles as a touch sensor for music and call controls. The touch controls are pretty responsive and worked accurately for the most part, with very few mistaps registered in our testing period.

While the earphones are lightweight, the fit isn’t quite as secure as we’d hope, despite trying all three sets of silicone buds the company provides in the box. We often had to struggle to get them deep enough inside the ear canals to feel secure, and we even faced some ear fatigue after an hour or so of listening to music. Additionally, we also needed to constantly readjust the buds during more intensive activities such as jogging or running errands at home. This is especially bothersome for people with smaller-sized ears.

Naturally, due to the inadequate fit, passive isolation was less effective than desired. However, if the earbuds do fit you well, you can choose to use these while gymming or running since they come with an IPX4 water-resistant rating, which should be able to withstand some sweat. Additionally, the buds also come equipped with a sensor that allows for wearing detection. Simply removing a bud from your ear will cause the music or media to pause, and putting it back on will resume the playback. Having wearing detection at this price point is pretty rare and we were glad to see Realme include this relatively uncommon feature. The wearing detection worked about 80 per cent of the time we used it, which is quite good.

Features

In addition to the aforementioned Wearing Detection (auto-pause or play) and IPX4 rating, the Realme Buds Air Pro also comes packing other appealing features, the most eye-catching of which are Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency Mode. The Realme Buds Air Pro utilises the company’s custom S1 noise cancellation chip to cancel up to 35dB of noise. This is accomplished by employing two microphones - one feedback and one feed-forward microphone that collect ambient noise information and create opposite sound waves to cancel them out. The Transparency Mode, on the other hand, enhances ambient sounds so you can be aware of your surroundings in situations where you have to listen to announcements, traffic sounds, or others.

The earbuds also come equipped with a dedicated Gaming Mode and as per Realme, the latency in this mode is merely 94ms, which is on the lower side in Bluetooth earphones. The gaming mode can be activated by pressing and holding the touch sensors on both buds for about 2-3 seconds. We tried playing Call Of Duty: Mobile with gaming mode on and found the latency to be unnoticeable. The sound of gunshots were synced with the visuals. Even when we watched videos on YouTube and Netflix videos, the lip movement and speech was pretty much perfectly in-sync. The difference between Low Latency Gaming Mode and Normal Mode, even though very small, was noticeable at times, especially when watching YouTube videos.

The earphones can also be used in mono mode since both buds act as the master buds. So, if you want to just use the right earbud by itself while the other one stays in the case or vice versa, you can choose to do so. The earphones are powered by Bluetooth v5.0 and the connection was pretty reliable in our test period. We did, however, have them randomly disconnect on us, but that was just once in a week’s worth of testing. Additionally, they come with SBC and AAC codec support, but they’re missing aptX support, which we see on some affordable and mid-range true wireless earphones such as the Mivi Duopods M80, Creative Outlier Air, and Lypertek Tevi. 

For connection, you can either pair the earphones conventionally via Bluetooth settings or with Google’s Fast Pair technology which is available on Android phones. Fast Pair is extremely convenient, and before we even had the chance to activate Bluetooth to pair the device, Fast Pair kicked in when we opened the case and prompted us to connect to the Realme Buds Air Pro. Subsequent connections to the paired device were pretty much instantaneous as well. Additionally, there’s also a little prompt that is shown on your phone every time the buds connect that relay the battery percentage of both the buds and the charging case. However, this wasn’t very consistent and sometimes the prompt would just fail to show up.

We missed Qi wireless charging for the case on these buds and were rather disappointed that Realme chose to get rid of this nifty feature that was actually available on the predecessor of these earphones, the Realme Buds Air. However, we do get USB Type-C charging and fast charging support. Additionally, the buds also support voice assistants such as Siri and Google Assistant, however, you will need to download the Realme Link app to customise the controls and activate the voice assistant control, which is turned off by default.

Realme Link: Accompanying app features

The Realme Buds Air Pro can be connected to the Realme Link app, which unfortunately doesn’t house an adjustable equaliser, but it does come with some other useful features. You can quickly switch between Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency and General Modes. There’s also an option for you to choose which modes (ANC, Transparency and General) you want your touch controls to switch between. So, if you only use ANC and General mode, and don’t use Transparency much, you can choose to stop the earphones from cycling to them via the touch controls.

You can also turn on/off Game Mode, Volume Enhancer (which boosts the volume of the earphones), and Bass Boost+ (which increases the bass response). In our tests, we found that the Bass Boost+ mode didn’t particularly amplify the bass response too much. Additionally, you can also see the battery percentages of both the left and right earbuds, as well as the charging case. Firmware updates can also be done within the app. 

Lastly, you can also customise some controls on your earbuds. By default, a double-tap on either side pauses/plays music while a triple-tap on either side takes you to the next track. Additionally, tapping and holding either the right or left earbud switches between ANC, Transparency and General modes while tapping and holding both earbuds at the same time cycles between Gaming mode and Music mode. 

You can customise double-taps and triple-taps within the app and add functionalities such as summoning your device’s voice assistant, going to the previous track, switching between noise control modes, and even completely turn off the control. There’s no option, unfortunately, to control the volume of the media via touch controls, which we missed sorely, since having to pull out your phone every time to do so can get bothersome.

ANC and Transparency Mode performance

Unlike the ANC on the Realme Buds Wireless Pro, thankfully, the ANC on these earphones do not cause distortion or alter the sound profile drastically. We found the noise cancellation on these earphones to be pretty decent, especially for the price. While you don’t get the insane levels of ANC on-ear headphones provide, or the substantial noise reduction the Sony WF-1000XM3 provides, what you do get is acceptable levels of ambient noise suppression especially lower, constant sounds such as an AC drone, the whirring of a ceiling fan, and others of the sort. However, mid to high-pitched sounds such as car honks, the clacking of a mechanical keyboard, and human voices aren’t suppressed. 

Nevertheless, for a pair of earphones under 5K, the ANC performance is surprisingly competent and you certainly can hear the difference in comparison to just regular passive isolation, which is pretty lacklustre on this device. Transparency Mode also works pretty well and does as advertised. Ambient sounds are sufficiently heightened, to a point where you can listen to your surroundings even if you’re listening to music at moderate volume levels. However, if you want to have conversations, there isn’t a real need to shift to Transparent mode since general and even ANC mode doesn’t inhibit human voices to a great degree.

Sound quality

Equipped with 10mm Bass Boost drivers, the Realme Buds Air Pro exhibits a rather common V-shaped sound signature, where the bass and treble frequencies are boosted and the mids are suppressed. The sonic signature leans more towards the bass and lower-frequencies though, with a bass response that comes with significant heft and thump which can be felt in tracks such as Blinding Lights by The Weeknd or all the good girls go to hell by Billie Eilish. The bass also doesn’t bleed into the mids and shows good restraint in that regard which is rare in affordable earphones.

However, the mids and mid-highs themselves are slightly suppressed which makes some tracks sound hollow since the instruments and vocals aren’t reproduced with adequate drive. In Pull Me Under by Dream Theatre, the lead guitar lacks punch which makes the entire track fall kind of flat. However, higher-frequency female voices sound more lively in comparison to the sometimes listless male voices.

The highs are reproduced decently, with a tinge of distortion at times, especially at higher volumes. Also, in instrumentally crowded tracks such as Popular Monster by Falling in Reverse, the slightly weightier bass response causes the drums in the song to overshadow the cymbals and hi-hats. The soundstage is pretty narrow and the imaging could be slightly better too. However, for most popular genres, this sound signature is pretty decent. We wish the mids weren’t quite as suppressed but it’s something that only staunch audiophiles will be completely thrown off by. For most others, it’s a perfectly acceptable sound signature that doesn’t cause listening fatigue and is considerably pleasant to the ears.

Battery life and microphone

The Realme Buds Air Pro doesn’t stand out when it comes to battery life and neither does it disappoint. It stands somewhere in the middle of the mix when it comes to true wireless earphones’ battery life with a respectable 20 hours of total battery life with ANC on, and 25 hours with ANC off, as per the company. According to Realme, the earphones are capable of 5 hours of playtime with ANC on with three additional charges from the case, and 6 hours without ANC with 3 additional charges as well.

In our tests, with mixed active noise cancellation and general mode usage and with the volume at 50 per cent, we were able to get 4 hours and 45 minutes of playtime from the buds themselves, while the case charged the buds to full twice and to 80 per cent the third time before hitting 0 per cent, which is pretty decent for ANC-enabled earphones.

The microphone quality was strictly mediocre on the Realme Buds Air Pro. Microphone intelligibility was decent. We dictated a paragraph into the Google Notes app and the mic picked up about 70 per cent of the words accurately. However, on calls, the earphones had a rough time filtering out ambient sounds and the listener on the other end of the call complained of excessive disturbance which was due to a high-speed ceiling fan. So, if you’re going to be making a lot of calls with these earphones, ensure that you do it in quiet environments.

Bottomline

The Realme Buds Air Pro are  an enticing pair of true wireless earphones, no doubt. Equipped with features such as ANC, Transparency Mode, gaming mode, customisable controls, Google Fast Pair, and others, all packaged neatly at a competitive price of Rs 4,999, it’s easy to recommend these earphones to most users that are looking for a value for money true wireless purchase under 5K. The slightly inadequate fit, lack of volume controls and the mediocre microphone quality aren’t big enough red flags to stop us from recommending these earphones. Overall, we think that Realme hit it out of the park with these earphones, offering decent sound quality and host of features at a very appealing price point

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The PS5 will be not be compatible with these 10 PS4 games

As we all know by now, the PS5 is launching on November 12 and the India pricing has not been revealed as yet. We also know that the PS5 is backwards compatible with a ton of PS4 games, almost 99% of the entire PS4 library, in fact. But, and here’s the catch, there are a bunch of games that will not be compatible with the PS5. Meaning, the rest of the games will run on the next-gen console while these 10 games will remain only in PS4 mode. 

Here are the 10 titles that will not be compatible with the PS5. 

DWVR

Afro Samurai 2 Revenge of Kuma Volume One

TT Isle of Man – Ride on the Edge 2

Just Deal With It!

Shadow Complex Remastered

Robinson: The Journey

We Sing

Hitman Go: Definitive Edition

Shadwen

Joe’s Diner

If you own any of these titles and are thinking of purchasing a PS5, then you may want to think again. But for the rest of us, almost all our PS4 games will be compatible with the PS5. In fact, you guys should check out the teardown of the console as you’ll learn a ton more about the hardware on the PS5. We also have a comparison between the PS5 and the Xbox Series X, right here. 

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Mi Smart Band 5

The Mi Smart Band 5 was launched a few days before the Mi Watch Revolve, and is part of Xiaomi’s overall strategy of furthering its presence in the wearble fitness segment. While we were left rather impressed by the Revolve, its time to see what the smaller, more budget friendly Mi Smart Band 5 can do. Here’s everything that the band gets righ, and the few areas where it falters.

Mi Smart Band 5 Build and Design

The Mi Smart Band 5 feature a 1.1 inch AMOLED colour display with a resolution of 126x294. The display boasts of 450 nits of brightness and in my use over a period of a few days, screen legibility was not an issue at all. The band itself is a single unit, which means no longer having to pull the display assembly out of the silicone shell to charge the band. Instead, you get a charger that magnetically attaches to the watch in order to charge it. Frankly, this is a far superior charging solution as it ensures the shell of the watch doesn’t loosen up over time as you take out and re-insert the display. The clasp on the band is fairly easy to work with and manages to hold the band in position reliably. Hopefully, your wrist is a circumference that aligns with the holed punched inito the strap, given that it is not replaceable. Construction, design and build wise, the Mi Smart Band 5 does nail all the basics.

Mi Smart Band 5 Fitness Tracking

The Mi Smart Band 5 features the ability to track 11 exercises, which now also includes indoor yoga and also the ability to track your stress levels throughout the day. Stress tracking has really been becoming more and more popular, and is great to have to get a good idea of your mental state throughout the day. In addition to the 11 activities, you also get the usual step tracking, sleep tracking and all day heart-rate tracking, and we’ll discuss a few of those for sure.

Mi Smart Band 5 Stress Tracking

Now this one was a little bit on the mixed side. On two particularly stressful days, the Mi Smart Band 5 managed to report stress levels that was in line with how I was feeling. However, on a third day, the Mi Smart Band 5 reported me as completely calm and relaxed, when it was in-fact, th complete opposite. Once the weekend rolled around, stress levels naturally dropped, once again, correctly pixked up by the Mi Smart Band 5. The advantage of knowing your daily stress levels is that it helps in better adjusting your lifestyle. You may think its an average day at work, but your body might be feeling otherwise. Its kind of amazing the kind of horrible things we have come to treat as normal. Being able to see your stress levels on a day-to-day basis will definitely help you make better life choices, ones that help you move towards lower stress levels. I think that the one stress level reading that was wildly inaccurate, was only an outlier.

Mi Smart Band 5 Heart Rate Tracking

The Mi Smart Band 5 features an all-day heart rate tracker which is quickly become standard even at this price point.  In my use of the band for roughly a week, the band reported fairly consistent heart rates when compared to the data collected by my far more expensive Garmin Instinct.

Mi Smart Band 5 Step Tracking

When you’re going for a fitness band, your goal may not be to train for the next big marathon. Fitness bands are ideal for people who want to be aware of how unfit they are, and how little or much they are doing to correct it. Since most of us take to walks as a means of getting some workout done, there is no need to spend on more professional fitness trackers or smartwatches. Just get a Mi Smart Band 5. In my testing, the step reporting by the Mi Smart Band 5 was within the margin of error in comparison to my Garmin Instinct. On a 5Km walk, the Garmin nailed th distance, but the Mi Smart Band 5 came up a little short in its reporting, clocking a total of 4.8Km walked. The step count was also on the ever-so-slightly lower side, which is a good thing. As far as errors in reporting metrics go, under is always better than over because then you’re not over-estimating your achievements.

Mi Smart Band 5 Sleep Tracking

The Mi Smart Band 5 is also capable of tracking sleep, but in my experience, I was not able to get reliable results from the band. On multiple occasions, it recorded me as having slept only two hours (or so) and on some nights, it didn’t register my sleep at all. This is very similar to the behaviour exhibited by the Mi Watch Revolve that we reviewed recently and I’m hoping that this is more of a software issue than a hardware one. I will update this review at a later date once there’s an update to the band.

Mi Smart Band 5 Battery Life

The Mi Smart Band 5 packs a 125mAh battery, which the company claims can last up to two weeks, and I managed to get to 9 days before my band needed charging. This is with plenty of activity tracking (walks, bike rides and sleep), with smartphone notifications enabled. I do like the magnetic charger as it makes managing the battery situation a whole lot easier.  

Mi Smart Band 5 Verdict

The Mi Smart Band 5 is a nifty little fitness band that is perfect if you’re starting to become more conscious about your sedentary lifestyle. If you want to start working out just to maintain some level of activity in you day, then the Mi Smart Band 5 is perfect to track and record those workouts. With the inclusion of indoor yoga tracking as well, the band has practically covered all bases when it comes to popular workout types. Where the band does falter is sleep tracking, but if that isn’t too important, you can overlook that. Overall, the band is definitely worth the money.

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OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro will receive OxygenOS 11 update, other OnePlus phones to follow suit

OnePlus 8 Pro and OnePlus 8 users will now receive that OxygenOS 11 update. Do note that this update will only be available to a small number of users with a full rollout planned for the next few days. This was done so that OnePlus could minimise bugs and inconsistencies in the update. The announcement was made on the OnePlus forums yesterday and OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro users should be expecting the update anytime soon. The update will also rollout for older OnePlus phones such as the OnePlus 7T Pro, OnePlus 7T, OnePlus 7 Pro, OnePlus 7, OnePlus 6T, OnePlus 6, and the OnePlus Nord. The update should be about 2.8GB in size so do make sure you have enough space on your phone. 

Here are the system updates that you should expect with OxygenOS 11

System

Fresh new UI visual design brings you a more comfortable experience with various optimizations of details.

Brand-new weather UI supports dynamic switches between sunrise and sunset. You can have day and night at your hand now.

Optimized stability on some third-party applications and improved user experience.

Game Space

Newly added gaming tools box for convenient switches of Fnatic mode. You can now choose three ways of notifications: text-only, heads up and block, just for your immersive gaming experience.

Newly added quick reply feature in a small window for Instagram and WhatsApp. (Enable it by swiping down from upper right/left corners of the screen in gaming mode)

Newly added mis-touch prevention feature. Enable it, swipe down from the top of the screen, click and the notification bar will pop out.

Ambient Display

Added Always-on ambient Display function, custom Schedule/All day option included. (To set: Settings > Display > Ambient Display)

Newly added Insight clock style, a joint creation with Parsons School of Design. It will change according to the phone usage data. (To set: Settings > Customization > Clock Style)

Newly added 10 new clock styles. (To set: Settings > Customization > Clock Style)

Dark Mode

Added the shortcut key for Dark Mode, pull down the quick setting to enable.

Supporting automatically turn on feature & customize time range. (To set: Settings > Display > Dark Mode > Turn on automatically > Automatically enable from sunset to sunrise/Custom time range.)

Zen Mode

Added 5 new themes (ocean, space, grassland, and so on), and more timing options. Included the Group feature in Zen Mode, now you can invite your friends and enable the Zen Mode together.

Gallery

Story function supported, automatically forming weekly videos with photos and video in storage.

Loading speed optimized, and the image preview is now faster.

Others

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Realme Buds Wireless Pro

Priced competitively at Rs 3,999, the earbuds offer users a plethora of premium features such as ANC, Transparency Mode, Game Mode, customisable controls, LDAC codec support, a solid battery life of up to 22 hours, and a sporty and attractive design. However, the otherwise great pair of wireless earphones are marred by the botchy implementation of ANC which causes tons of distortion in the sound and also changes the sound profile from being warm to more bright. It’s a shame since these earphones would be the easiest recommendation to give to users hoping to experience ANC first-hand without having to pay an exorbitant price. Overall, if you are okay with avoiding ANC when listening to music and are still taken by the other features provided with these earphones, they could be a decent purchase, especially at the currently discounted price at Rs 2,999.

Augmenting its presence in the mobile accessories space, Realme has launched two active noise-cancellation audio devices in India - the Realme Buds Wireless Pro and Realme Buds Air Pro. The latter is the device we are reviewing today, which is the successor to the wildly popular Realme Buds Wireless neckband-style earphones and the company’s very first active noise cancellation neckband style wireless earphones. Realme is attempting to democratise ANC-powered earphones and make it more accessible to the public by bringing the technology to the sub-5K price segment. The company currently sits pretty since there are no other notable ANC wireless earphones available in India at this price point. Nevertheless, we are hoping several other companies will follow suit and start incorporating the technology within their offerings too. Coming back to the Realme Buds Wireless Pro, the earphones come packed to the brim with a slew of features that make them extremely alluring, on paper at least. So, let’s find if the earphones live up to the hype in our review.

Build and design

Available in two colour variants - Party Yellow and Disco Green, the Realme Buds Wireless Pro are anything but dull. The colour scheme is a refreshing change from the monotonous black-coloured wireless headsets that are highly conventional in the audio market. We did prefer the black and yellow (cue Wiz Khalifa) dual-tone colour scheme of our Party Yellow review unit over the Disco Green variant though. 

The Realme Buds Wireless Pro is the company’s successors to the Realme Buds Wireless and has a similar design with a few changes sprinkled around. The newer model still comes with a flexible rubber neckband with metal + plastic modules at the end, yellow (or green) rubber cables that lead to the plastic earbuds themselves. The buds have a glossy and matte dual texture, with a CD-like pattern on the rear housings of the buds. The weight, despite the added technology, has stayed pretty much unchanged, coming in at 33g in comparison to the 30g of its predecessor. 

The weighted modules at the end of the neckband feel smooth to the touch and have an appealing and streamlined design. The right one houses all the physical control buttons - the multifunction button, volume buttons, and the Noise Cancellation button. The tactility and responsiveness of these physical buttons impressed us to quite an extent. We will go over the function of these buttons in the Features section of this article. The right module also houses the USB Type-C charging port which is tucked under a plastic flap.

The rear housings of each bud come equipped with magnets that attach to each other when lying idly on the chest. In a similar vein to the OnePlus Bullets Wireless Z and the previous Realme Buds Wireless model, the magnetic clamp also serves as a power on/off switch for the earphones, which turns on the buds when detached and turns them off when magnetically attached to each other. 

Since there is no power button, this is the only way to power on and off this headset. While the feature is convenient, it can prove to be slightly aggravating at times. Especially if the magnets come loose when you’ve tucked the earphones into a bag. Not only does this cause battery drain, but it can also unknowingly connect to paired devices which can be problematic in some circumstances. 

Overall, the Realme Buds Wireless Pro has a robust build, with an aesthetically pleasing design language that will appeal to the younger crowd. Despite being built primarily out of plastic, the material has a premium feel to it, which is appreciable.

Fit and comfort

Owing to the lightweight nature of the earphones, the buds are naturally pretty comfortable to wear even over extended periods of usage. The rubber neckband is smooth and comfortable against the back of the neck, and the earbuds don’t cause any discomfort to the ears. However, Realme has chosen to ditch the silicone wings that were present on the predecessors of these earphones.

This has resulted in a slightly less secure fit overall. The buds also don’t enter the ear canal as deep as some other earphones which makes them feel less secure and also negatively affects passive isolation. The buds stayed in place for the most part while listening to them in a stationary position, however, during more intense activities such as jogging, we felt the need to readjust them quite a few times. 

Realme has provided two additional sizes of silicone eartips in the box with the medium ones already attached on the buds by default. We tried all three sizes to achieve the best fit and still found the fit to be slightly lacklustre. This is unfortunate since the earphones scream “sporty” due to their design language and also come with IPX4 splash resistance which means you can use them while exercising without having to worry about water damage. Nevertheless, your experience with the fit may vary, and it must be noted that the reviewer has smaller than usual sized ears.

Features

The Realme Buds Wireless Pro offers users a cornucopia of nifty features, many of which are associated with high-end earphones. The headlining feature is, of course, active noise cancellation. Powered by Realme’s customised S1 noise-cancellation chip, the company claims that the buds are capable of noise reduction of up to 35dB. The earphones use one feedback and one feed-forward microphone to provide noise cancellation. The earphone’s also come with ENC (Environmental Noise Cancellation) during phone calls, to avoid picking up ambient sounds during calls. Then, there’s also Transparency Mode that heightens the ambient noises to help you be more aware of your surroundings when you’re using the earphones. We will go over the performance of these modes in the later sections.

The buds also attempt to cater to the burgeoning mobile gaming crowd in India by incorporating a 119ms Low Latency Gaming Mode. We played some Call of Duty: Mobile on Gaming Mode and were quite happy with the minimal latency. Even in YouTube and Netflix videos, there was minimal visible latency and the dialogue was almost perfectly in sync with the lips. However, this mode doesn’t work when you’ve toggled on the LDAC high-quality codec, which is a bit disappointing, since we listened to music with LDAC turned on for the most part.

Now, speaking of the LDAC codec, these are one of the few affordable earphones that support this high-quality codec. In addition, there’s also support for the customary SBC codec, and also the AAC codec. The earphones are powered by Bluetooth 5.0 and the connection was rock solid during our tests, with no lags or stutters in the audio at all. The wireless transmission range is decent as well and it even managed to penetrate through a wall easily.

Now, in addition to the aforementioned Magnetic power switch, the earphones also come equipped with Google Fast Pair. Upon detaching the earphones from each other, they directly go into pairing mode and even before we can search for them in the Bluetooth menu, there’s a Google Fast Pair prompt in our notification tray, allowing for a single-tap connection. The connection process on these earphones after the initial pairing is blazing fast, and the device is paired to your phone even before you manage to put the buds in your ears, in most instances. Now, Realme hasn’t added multipoint connectivity to these earphones, but you can quickly switch between two paired devices by just double-tapping the Noise Cancellation button.

The buds also come with buttons on the right module to control playback, calls and cycle through modes. The multifunction button in the middle pauses/plays music and answers/declines phone calls, the + and - buttons control the volume levels, and the Noise Cancelling button can be used to cycle through ANC, Transparency Mode, and Normal mode, and long-pressing this button activates Game Mode, while double-clicking it quickly switches between paired devices. The multifunctional and noise cancellation buttons are also customisable via the Realme Link app.

In addition to these, you get other features such as IPX4 splash resistance, Voice Assistant support (Siri and Google Assistant), Fast Charging, and app support as well. The accompanying app for the Realme Buds Wireless Pro is the Realme Link app, however, the app isn’t available on iOS devices. Let’s look at the functionality of the accompanying app.

Accompanying app: Realme Link

Realme Link offers users a fair amount of customisation options, however, the app misses out on a customisable EQ. Still, it does come with customisable controls, which is probably the best feature of the app. You can tweak the functions of the multifunction button as well as the Noise Cancellation button on the app, however, the volume buttons’ function cannot be changed. On both the multifunction button and the Noise Cancellation button, users can set their desired action for a Single Tap, Double Tap, Triple Tap and Touch and Hold. You can also choose to turn off most of these buttons completely.

In addition to customising controls, toggle between noise cancellation, transparency and normal modes. You can also toggle on/off Game Mode, Bass Boost+ (which increases the bass response), and Volume Enhancer (which increases the volume of the earphones themselves). Furthermore, you can check your earphone’s battery percentage on the app and also update the firmware whenever there is an update available. 

ANC and Transparency Mode performance

The crowning jewel of the Realme Buds Wireless Pro, which is the ANC, was actually what disappointed us the most. The ANC quality itself was decent, with good noise cancelling in the lower frequencies and with constant sounds such as the hum of an air conditioner. Higher frequency sounds such as the typing of a mechanical keyboard and human voices weren’t suppressed as well, but in general, the ANC worked decently well in cutting out some generic distractions. 

However, what bothered us the most about the ANC performance of these earphones was how much the ANC changed the sound profile of the earphones. The warm character of the sound profile without ANC active was turned upside down and the sound just became much brighter and harsh in the higher frequencies. Moreover, the ANC also caused an abysmal amount of distortion in the bass response and the lows to a point where it was almost unusable while listening to music. In tracks such as bad guy by Billie Eilish, the low bass notes were extremely distorted and muddled. Additionally, instruments such as drums also crackled at times, causing the entire sonic experience with ANC on to be an absolute disaster. 

We found that by going into the Realme Link app and toggling off Volume Enhancer, the distortion became slightly more manageable and not quite so detestable. However, the distortion is still present and only goes away when you turn off ANC and listen to music with Transparency Mode or Normal Mode turned on. This is extremely disappointing since users that may want to purchase these earphones will want to listen to music with ANC on at times, and the fact that their experience will be marred completely by the failed implementation is saddening. 

Now coming to the Transparency Mode, it worked as well as we’d hope and really enhanced background sounds to quite a degree. This can come in handy when you want to be aware of your surroundings and listen to important sonic cues such as train station announcements or the horns of vehicles.

Sound quality

As we mentioned above, turning on ANC pretty much ruins the sound quality of the earphones, so for our audio tests, we listened to music on streaming apps and our own collection of high-res audio with ANC turned off. Do note that if you do turn the ANC on, you will encounter a different, brighter sound profile and also excessive amounts of distortion, especially in the bass and the low frequencies. The earphones sport 13.6mm Bass Boost drivers with LDAC, AAC and SBC codec support.

With ANC turned off, the Realme Buds Wireless Pro provide quite a commendable sound quality, with a pleasant, warm sound profile that has punchy yet controlled bass response, commanding lows, clear and detailed mids, and decent highs. In tracks such as Mindstreet by Motherjane, the bass guitar sounds full-bodied and commanding, but it still doesn’t take away from the details of the other instruments and vocals in the track. Similarly, in Another One Bites the Dust by Queen, Freddie Mercury’s vocals ring clearly and distinctly despite the punchy bass notes in the background.

In vocal-centric tracks such as Call On Me by Chris Rea, the tonality is pretty captivating and there’s an undeniable power in the vocals as well. The detail takes a bit of a hit in higher-frequency vocals, however, it is still very much at the front of the track instead of being relegated to the background. There is some sibilance in female vocals, however, it is mostly not overbearingly jarring or noticeable even. The highs, however, do sound tinny and rock tracks such as Pull Me Under by Dream Theatre have hard-hitting cymbals and hi-hats that sound a bit screechy at times. 

Nevertheless, the overall sonic signature (without ANC, of course) is pretty tasteful at this price range. We also found that the soundstage was pretty wide and the imaging was pretty good with positionally accurate placement of instruments, even in some crowded tracks such as Selkies by Between the Buried and Me. Also, the performance was noticeable better on LDAC than on AAC or SBC, with more detail packed into the mids with LDAC turned on.

Battery life and microphone

Housing a 160mAh battery, the Realme Buds Wireless Pro have a battery life of a whopping 22 hours with ANC turned on, and a respectable 16 hours with ANC turned on. The earphones also come with Fast Charge support, where 5 minutes of charge nets you about 100 minutes of playtime, according to Realme. Additionally, you can charge the earphones to full in about an hour and a half, which proved to be pretty accurate as per our tests.

Testing the battery life ourselves, we found that with mixed ANC usage and the volume levels at about 50-60 per cent, we managed to squeeze out approximately 19 and a half hours of playtime, which is pretty impressive and is definitely on the higher-end when it comes to wireless Bluetooth earphones. 

The microphone quality was decent and got a mixed bag of reactions from people we called using these earphones. Some said that the sound was clear while others complained that it sounded thin and muffled. Background sounds such as high-speed fans were not filtered thoroughly by the onboard ENC (Environmental Noise Cancellation) and it is best to make calls with these earphones in relatively noise-free locations.

Bottomline

Priced competitively at Rs 3,999, the earbuds offer users a plethora of premium features such as ANC, Transparency Mode, Game Mode, customisable controls, LDAC codec support, solid battery life of up to 22 hours, and a sporty and attractive design. However, the otherwise great pair of wireless earphones are marred by the poor implementation of ANC which causes tons of distortion in the sound and also changes the sound profile from being warm to more bright. It’s a shame since these earphones would be the easiest recommendation to give to users hoping to experience ANC first-hand without having to pay an exorbitant price. Overall, if you are okay with avoiding ANC when listening to music and are still taken by the other features provided with these earphones, they could be a decent purchase, especially at the currently discounted price at Rs 2,999.

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David Finchers Mank Trailer Is Out Now

Netflix has finally released an official teaser trailer for David Fincher’s much-anticipated, upcoming biopic - Mank. After having revealed some high-resolution stills from the film, early last month, the vintage-looking trailer proceeds to give us an insight into the ominously classy setting and the various true to life characters involved. The film is set to release in selected theatres sometime in November, before hitting Netflix worldwide, on 4 December 2020.

Set in the 1930s, the grainy, black and white trailer starts out by introducing us to a bedridden social critic and alcoholic screenwriter, Herman J Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman), as he is approached by Orson Welles (Tom Burke), the director and lead of “the greatest film ever made” - Citizen Kane. The trailer then transitions into a montage, showcasing a disorganized set of scenes, giving us some vague details on the characters. Where Mank himself is described as a suicidal drinker, a compulsive gambler and someone who partakes in silly platonic affairs. We also get a look at Amanda Seyfried as famous actress Marion Davies and Charles Dance as her love interest, William Randolph Hearst. The film also stars Lily Collins as Rita Alexander (Mank’s personal nurse), and Tom Pelphrey as his brother - Joseph L Mankiewicz.

Mank is an upcoming biographical film that chronicles the battles between renowned Hollywood screenwriter Herman J Mankiewicz and director Orson Welles over screenplay credit for the award-winning 1941 mystery-drama film, Citizen Kane. This would be director David Fincher’s first feature film since 2014’s Gone Girl, while he was busy with acclaimed TV projects like Mindhunter and House of Cards. Creating this biopic has been a long-time passion project for the director, considering the original script was written by his father, Jack Fincher, in the 1990s, before passing away in 2003.

Adding on, Netflix has also released a separate teaser for Mank on Reddit, which goes in further detail into the additional cast members and the setting, which you can check out, right below.

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